Taken By The Brothers_Gemini

by Sonia Belier

  Revving up my Kawasaki outside of our estate in Long Island, I rode back to Manhattan to confront Fiero.

  There was not an ounce of sympathy in me for her.

  She was dreadfully nosy and that would be her undoing. Had she left the cabinet alone, she’d be much better off.

  It was dusk when I pulled up to her apartment and I had no reason to believe she’d gotten herself involved with any law enforcement since discovering the haul room. The woman was probably terrified and she should be.

  Walking up to her front door I reached for the lockpick in my pocket.

  Quickly picking the lock on her front door, I made my way inside the apartment.

  “Yeah well, I’m not gonna be able to join you for lunch tomorrow Brad. I’m uhh…kinda tied up with something else at the moment. Think we can reschedule? No…of course I’m not brushing you off!”

  She was on her phone. Distracted.

  I followed the sound of her voice to the kitchen where she stood with her back to the hallway.

  Surprisingly, she didn’t budge as I pressed the cold tip of my pistol against the nape of her back.

  “Hang up.” I whispered in her vacant ear.

  “You know what Brad, I’m in the middle of cooking. I’ll call you back tomorrow.” Her voice was shaking. Despite that, she did just as I said.

  “Good girl. Now give me your phone.” She carefully placed the phone in my hand and I turned her shoulder to face me.

  There was a genuine fear in her ebony eyes. But it wouldn’t sway me at all.

  “Ada…you’ve messed up, my friend.” She gulped audibly as I motioned her to stand against the wall in the kitchen. I moved in closer to her, closing the gap between us further. I figured it would be pretty harmless to toy with her seeing as though she effectively put the entire Hatton operation in jeopardy.

  “What did you find in there hmm?”

  “I-I’m sorry, what did I find where?”

  “Looks like you finally got the cabinet to open. Did you find anything interesting inside?” Her eyes glanced at the floor where some debris from the cabinet still remained. She looked back at me and pursed her lips. I got the feeling that she was trying to entice me to weasel her way out of the situation.

  Wouldn’t work on me.

  “The room was full of things. They all looked extremely expensive. Artifacts, icons, paintings, gemstones. Are those…”

  You might want to choose your words carefully Ada.

  “…Are those things yours and Valor’s?”

  The poor woman clenched her eyes so tight after eeking the sentence out. As if she thought I’d pull the trigger at the sound of her question. Believe me, I thought about it. She seemed like more trouble than she was worth.

  “Yeah. Those things are ours. What exactly were you doing in that room?”

  “Well this is my apartment, isn’t it? Why wouldn’t I be allowed to go anywhere I want to? Look, if you’re gonna shoot me just do it! Or else, could you let me use the fucking bathroom?”

  “Ballsy. I like that.” I lowered my gun “But you’re lying. You’re going to try to climb out of the bathroom window aren’t you.” Her face flushed red with embarrassment.

  “How did you know that?!”

  “You just told me.”

  Her eyes welled up with defeat and she held her head down. I raised her chin up to get a good look at her face.

  “As a consequence of what you found in there, you’ll now be in on the Hatton operation. We smuggle treasure and sell them on the black market. And you’re going to help us. You don’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “Just please don’t hurt me.”

  “Hurt you? Of course I won’t do that.”

  She was defenseless and I was in control.

  I’d been paying close attention to Ada. Enough to know that she was deriving some sense of pleasure because of our proximity.

  “It’ll be arranged so that this partnership may even be extremely lucrative to you. In more ways than one.” The taste of her soft sweet skin as I bit on her ear lobe was a sensation I could get used to. She let out a small cry in response.

  Yes, this could be lucrative for both of us.

  I ran my tongue along her tender neck, and bite down on the skin. Another quiet mewl escaped her mouth as she struggled to resist the advance.

  “There’s no use Ada. You’re mine now.”

  “I might be a complete fool for this, but I’m going to trust you. There’s really nothing else I can do.” Her voice exuded reluctance.

  Or did it?

  Pressing my mouth firmly against hers, I wanted to embed that “trust” she longed for onto her lips. After a while she eased into it, and her body gave way to the idea.

  “Who knows, maybe this whole thing is fate?” She said quietly as the kiss broke.

  At that, Valor jolted through the door.

  He always managed to rear his head at the worst times.

  “Fate.” He motioned for me to back off of Ada, and I did so begrudgingly. Being born five minutes earlier than me didn’t exactly give him the right to order me around.

  “Ada, I’m guessing Fate already explained the peculiar situation we now find ourselves in.” I glared at him knowing that this was his sly way of trying to extract information about our time alone.

  “I didn’t explain anything. Figured it would be better if you did. Seeing as though you seem so eager.”

  “Fine. I’ll do the talking.” Valor walked over to me and folded his arms, both of us facing Ada. “Ms. Fiero, unfortunately you’ve had the misfortune of getting mixed in the Hatton operation.”

  “Will one of you please explain what the hell that means already?!”

  If she was going to be this loud during the course of our partnership, it might’ve been easier to just let her go.

  Thankfully, Valor had more patience than me.

  “My brother Fate and I run a business. We specialize in securing rare antiquities from various places across the globe and selling them for premium. In the black market. Obviously, none of this is quite legal and we make a substantial amount of cash doing it. Our contracting business is merely a shell company.”

  “You steal antiques and sell them on the black market?! Oh my god…what on earth did I get myself into? I am not going to be a part of this!” She made a quick run for the door.

  I grabbed her arm, “Listen Ada, I told you earlier that you don’t really have a choice. Your best bet is to do as we say.” Releasing my grip on her, she slowly backed away into her room. She left the door open and sat with her head to the ground.

  The feeling I had seeing her like that was weird. I felt…almost sorry for her. But it didn’t take long for that thought to disappear as I approached my brother about how we were going to handle this major inconvenience.

  “Valor, what are we going to do about this? You don’t seriously plan on bringing her on our heists do you?”

  “Do you trust her?” He wiped his glasses clean

  Did I trust her? I barely knew the woman! Something about her seemed trustworthy. Almost, enticing…But it was way too soon to admit that.

  Scratching my skin, the stubble grazing my fingers, I responded, “I have no reason to believe she’ll turn on us. She’s too afraid. But my question to you is, what exactly is her role supposed to be? Like I said, it’s not like we can bring her on any heists. She’s a damned teacher for crying out loud.”

  Valor placed his arm on my shoulder and pat my back. Usually, this meant the oddball had some bright idea.

  “You need to think wide Fate. We don’t have to bring her anywhere at all. As a matter of fact, she can stay with us in the estate. She can still go back to the University, teach, and whatever other mundane things she usually does.”

  “Oh? How do you figure?” This had better be good.

  “I think that we can use Ada for our transactions. Think about it. We’ll be overseas collecting the loot and shipping it back, and she could act a
s our storefront. It’s genius! Imagine the how much our heist volume would increase if we didn’t have to continuously fly in and out of the country.”

  This was the most bizarre and unrealistic shit I’d ever heard. My eyelids scrunched up forming creases in the corner of my eyes.

  “What makes you think she’ll go along with any of it? I’d rather not get her involved in the operation at all. The way I see it, holding this gun to her back every day is the only way we can be sure she won’t act funny.”

  “Of course that’s the only way forward a brute like yourself can see.”

  Rolling my eyes, I placed a fresh piece of plywood haphazardly in front of the entrance to the crawl space.

  “I’m heading home to sort through this mess. You stay with her tonight. And you better think of a way to get us out of this shit.”

  I didn’t bother waiting for confirmation before I walked out the door.

  Chapter 3

  Valor

  I loved my brother Fate, but he was way too aggressive. Ruined many a heist with his temper and little care for thoughtful planning. I liked to think of myself as the careful balance to him.

  Because Ada Fiero was curious enough to discover, and break through the barrier to our loot room, I thought she could be useful to us in other ways.

  But first I had to gain her trust. No doubt she’d been a bit burned by the forceful way my brother chose to handle this unfortunate event.

  I walked down the hall and to her room where she sat on the floor staring mindlessly into the ridges of the Cherrywood.

  “Ada, do you mind if I sit next to you?” Though I knew it was an absolutely stupid question considering what just transpired I asked anyway, seeking to preserve any sense of chivalry I had in me.

  “Are you gonna stick a gun in my face?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Fate did. Why would his twin do anything different?”

  I could see that it was going to take a completely different approach than Fate’s to make sure we had Ada’s full cooperation.

  “Remember when I told you Fate was really serious about work? Well he’s worried now that you might put our business in jeopardy.”

  “But you two are international criminals Valor! I would have never guessed it either! If I keep this from the police I’m complicit! Don’t you understand how fucking crazy that is to me?!” She was almost hysterical with the way she swirled her arms about as she spoke. Did she even realize she was telling the “criminal” that she was going to rat him out to the police?

  “This why I’m telling you now, play along and everything will go smoothly. I promise.”

  She leaned her head against my shoulder, shaking it slowly. I could empathize with her shock, but we didn’t really have much time to waste.

  “I need to be certain that you’ll keep the knowledge of the Hatton Operation under a tight seal of secrecy. In return for your cooperation, we’ll give you a cut of future heists. We’ll have to keep you under surveillance, but continue going to work. Don’t act out of place.”

  A small chuckle escaped from her mouth.

  “Thanks for the permission…”

  “One more thing Ada. You’re going to have to stay with Fate and me at our Estate on Long Island. That won’t be a problem will it?” I wanted to give her some slight sense of control, though the reality was that she had none.

  “I have to or else your brother will shoot me on sight right? Give me a minute while I pack my things.” The distress in her voice was palpable as she rose up to remove a few suitcases from her closet.

  I took the opportunity to watch her.

  She was tall, curvaceous, and had long brown hair that wrapped itself in sinuous curls along her shoulder. I never realized it before, but she was pleasing to look at.

  “I guess it is actually my fault. It was a terrible idea to try and break into that cabinet.” She was speaking low and mumbling to herself, so I ignored it.

  Did I feel sorry that we were forcing Ada into our lifestyle? Maybe a little bit. Though she was too curious, to her own detriment. Perhaps I was being a bit gentler than Fate, and that was just the difference between us.

  “I’m ready to go Valor.”

  “Then let’s be off.”

  The ride from Manhattan to the Hatton estate on Long Island was a long and quiet one. I could tell the woman was still scared, afraid that she might be on the front page of the New York Times the next day. It wasn’t really my job, but I decided to comfort her.

  “We’re almost there. Are you hungry?”

  “Not really. If anything, I’ll just wait until we get to your estate. Being abducted doesn’t exactly make someone want a sandwich.”

  Boy was she witty.

  And oddly brave for someone that had no clue where I was taking her. She trusted me as I knew she would.

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  It was a good thing I’d told Fate to head back before us.

  The truth was, Ada could very destroy our operation if she went to authorities. They’d been on our trail for five years but never got a lead strong enough to pursue. The CIA and FBI have been involved and Fate and I have evaded them. Time and time again. All because we kept one very important rule in our minds.

  Trust no one.

  We didn’t let anyone get close to us. Not friend, nor lover. Money was the motive and we couldn’t risk losing it all.

  There were five different people that have lived in the apartment where our loot was hidden and none of them, I mean none of them bothered to inquire about the cabinet behind the fridge. We messed up. Got too secure. And now we were left to deal with the one seemingly precocious college Professor that snooped in places she shouldn’t have. The livelihood of our operation was now on the line.

  When we finally arrived at the Hatton estate I could hear a breathy sigh from Ada. Had she never seen a house this size before?

  “This is the Hatton estate? It’s massive!”

  “Maybe now you can see exactly what’s at stake here Ada.”

  I pulled the car into the garage next to Fate’s motorcycle. Opening the door for Ada, our butler Frederic emerged from the darkness of the night.

  “Mr. Hatton, pleasant to see you. May I take your guests bags?”

  “Please do Frederic. Place them in one of the vacant rooms in the West Wing. Thanks.”

  Ada walked towards the entrance to the estate. She hesitated like this was some sting operation she was walking into.

  “There’s nothing in there that’s going to bite you. Go on.” I placed a hand gently on her back and motioned her to walk inside of the estate. “I’ll show you to your room.” She followed me up the grand stairs in the entrance and to the west wing. When we arrived in her room, I closed the door and sat at the edge of the bed next to her.

  “I guess stealing things from other countries is pretty lucrative huh…” She said sarcastically as she gazed around the room.

  “It is. And there’s plenty in it for you, if you cooperate with us.”

  She sighed, “How did you have to get involved in something like this Valor? You don’t seem like a terrible guy. It seems like you have a conscious.”

  “I suppose if you’re going to be living here it would only make sense to talk about that right? Well I’m sorry. I can’t. There are a lot of things that there’s just no need to share considering the nature of our relationship.” I ran my hand along the tender skin of her face feeling a slight bit of sympathy for Ada. It seemed like the more time I spent with her, the more I felt it. I’m sure Valor had the same feeling.

  I was already breaking the cardinal rule.

  “Just trust me.”

  Pulling her slightly closer to me, I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

  This was foolish. And wrong.

  With that, I rose from her bed.

  “Goodnight Ada.”

  I closed the door, locking it behind me and went to meet Fate downstairs.

  “W
hat took you so long Valor? Is the girl in the room up there?” He was impatient as usual.

  “Yeah, she is. You must’ve shaken her up you idiot. I told you not to be rough with her.”

  Fate snarled, “Whatever, I could care less if she’s scared. My main concern is whether or not Rex’s boys are gonna find out about this. You know damn well she’s a liability to us now.”

  Rex Rodham, our biggest heist competitor on the market.

  He’d been trying to plant spies, haggle dirty cops, anything he could do to bring down the Hatton Operation.

  Truthfully speaking he had way more manpower than Fate and I, but we got along so far on wit.

  We knew however, that he was always watching us.

  “It is possible that he’ll target her in some way. That just means we have to keep a keen eye on her.”

  “Well I ain’t taking any bullets for some girl Valor. We’ll go with your original plan for now, but we also need to think of a way to shake her and get our loot out of that apartment.”

  “Right.”

  Chapter 4

  Ada

  Valor dropped me off to Columbia the next morning and I was shaken. Inconsolable. How would I possibly be able to teach at all? I could barely walk to my office!

  They never told me, but I was certain there was some kind of camera placed on me. There just had to be. They had to make sure I didn’t run away right?

  I couldn’t stop kicking myself over and over again. If I hadn’t opened that stupid cabinet then I wouldn’t be in this mess. There had to be some way out of it.

  “Professor Fiero! Do you have a minute?”

  I turned around, fixing the frayed ends of my hair to greet the voice behind me.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting you Professor, my name is Alex Swan. I’m assigned to you as your teaching assistant. My apologies for missing the first lecture.”

  “Oh it’s no problem. Sorry, I kind of had a long day yesterday.” I laughed nervously. “So you’ll be assisting me during lecture? That’s great! I could definitely use a hand.”